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--------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-----------------------------------------------------------
Six Sigma is based in large measure on creating a closed-loop business system to reduce company’s
inconsistency or “variations” of business system and keep it staying on the path to performance and success.
Defects, which are the bad variation that have a negative impact on customers and the approaches used to
monitor and improve them, can be defined as “process improvement”. This paper presents the
implementation of process improvement in a latex production company in Malaysia. The Six Sigma Way is
proposed and DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) phases are developed to accomplish the
process improvement efforts. These phases had been applied in latex dipping production line that identified
as the most critical area of cost compelling to the company.
KEYWORDs - Defects, Dipping process, Latex product, Process improvement, Six Sigma.
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Date of Submission: 31st May 2013, Date of Publication: 18.June.2013
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I. INTRODUCTION
Oxygen mask, stethoscope tubing, adhesive tape, gloves, toys, balloon, swimming cap and rubber
band are a few examples of medical and household products made from latex and rubber. These products are
essentials for daily life and the demands for it are sky-rocketing day by day [1]. Nowadays, the latex industry
has become very competitive and requires high volume production to achieve profitability. Technologies and
manufactures also faced with challenging tasks in developing high quality latex product with minimum cost
possible. For medical latex products in example surgical gloves, there is also a safety issue concerning how
defected products can cause contamination as well as risks in provoking allergic reaction to patients and
medical workers [2].
In Malaysia, abundant sources of high quality and natural latex form rubber make it a suitable place
for production of latex products. However, the production of these products, results in a lot of waste after
manufacturing due to quality problems. Therefore, production capacity usually did not meet order requirements
due to high end result of scraps. Late deliveries sometimes occur where in certain cases; company has to bear
the costs of compensation. Besides, the other obstacle is high inventory in certain items. Therefore, company
needs to adopt suitable process improvement method to solve the problems. Six Sigma is one of the best tools
that improve the reliability and quality of products by focusing on the process of reducing defects in
manufacturing [3].
A case study in a latex production line in Malaysia was carried out with an objective of finding out a
strategy for developing focused solutions to reduce product defects using DMAIC approach from Six Sigma
method. Six Sigma is widely implemented in the industry due to its‟ well structured methodology that enable
company to achieve their goal through continuous improvement [4]. DMAIC and Six Sigma are key methods
in the process yet as highlighted by [5], lack of implementation model detailing the steps and phases
contributes to failure of the program. Six Sigma places a clear center of attention on bottom-line impact in
hard dollar savings and company‟s cash flow [6 & 7]. No Six Sigma project will be approved unless the team
determines the investments generated from it. Six Sigma also has been very successful in integrating both
human aspects (culture change, training, customer focus, etc.) and process aspects (process stability, variation
reduction, capability, etc.). Finally, Six Sigma technique creates a powerful infrastructure for training of
champions, master black belts, black belts, green belts and yellow belts [8 & 9].
In this paper, remedial actions are taken to reduce the most serious revealed quality problems produced by
one of the common process known as latex-dipping process. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2
provides process improvement concept and the six sigma approach. In Section 3, DMAIC framework is
presented and process improvement for a case study towards implementing the DMAIC approach is discussed.
Finally, Section 4 concludes the process improvement implementation and possible future work is given.
Define problems
Goal, Constraint
and Assumption
Idea Generation,
Solutions Selection Identify Root
and Causes to
Implementation Problems
possible defect rate measures for the next step. For downstream department, they require pinhole free product
so that this will not affect the speed of printing and installation. The products also need to be in an even
shape after inflation so that the logos printed are not skewed. Lastly, products without color patches, without
internal and external surface stickiness and good bead rolling are required as to ensure it will not delay the
work of decorators. While for end users, they are more concern about the products aesthetic, no breakage,
lasted long, easy to use, cheap and chemical friendly.
For Defect 2 which is uneven wall thickness of the latex product, the root causes are as shown in Fig. 3.
By referring to Fig.2 and Fig.3, discussion conducted shows that Defect 1 and Defect 2 share similar
root causes. From the analysis, uneven coagulant and latex distribution cause the uneven product shape after
inflation and uneven wall thickness of the end product. Besides uneven liquid latex distribution on the
product‟s formers, there are other factors that affect shape after inflation. In „Material‟ factor, poor coagulant
wetting on formers causes the jagged coagulant allocation. When dipped into liquid latex, this will cause
uneven and poor latex pick up. Therefore, the product will form a curve shape after inflation and during usage.
Another root causes identified is that improper former cleaning cause‟s uneven wall thickness. After the latex
products are stripped from their formers, the formers have to go through water cleaning before start another
cycle. This process is known as coagulant dipping. If the formers are not properly cleaned, then remaining
coagulant is not totally removed and when it later dipped into latex, the situation will cause uneven latex pick
up. This is the root cause of uneven wall thickness happened. Furthermore, when the products are pulled out
from the formers, the viscous latex is going to run. This slightly affects the wall thickness of the finished
products. Once all the root causes of Defect 1 and Defect 2 were identified, fish-bone analysis was conducted
for Defect 3. The root causes are shown in Fig. 4.
www.theijes.com The IJES Page 5
Reduction Of Defects In Latex Dipping Production...
The other main defect that contributes to the towering reject level is high products bursting rate. The
initial measure can be made by pin hole and fish eye occurrence. If the pin hole exists, the product will burst
during inflation. Same as fish eye existence as well, the small particular section wall thickness is thinner.
While inflating, the product expanded and the section could not stand the strength and burst then. Analysis of
the dipping process shows that the presence of pin hole always closely related with the former cleanliness.
Impurity exists to formers result in blockage to latex distribution. Hereby the product formed will have pin hole
types of defect. Impurity presence at former caused improper cleaning way and cleaning frequency. Ineffective
deaeration also causes scattered impurity in former. On the other hand, no filtration system to trap lumps in
coagulant and liquid latex is another cause to impurity presence.
Material Measure
Bubbles in Former
Excessive coagulant cleanliness
Pin
loss of
hole
ammonia in
latex Bubbles in Air entrapment
compound latex dip
tank Fish
eye High
Bursting
Rate
Inadequate
Do not check dryness of
latex coagulant Without
viscosity No
before latex proper
filtration
Without dip former
system to
proper cleaning
trap lumps Angle of latex
coagulant Do not check Non- immersion and
cleaning coagulant effective extraction too
compound deaeration steep
Another observation shows that the presence of fish eye directly interrelated with the air entrapment in
the coagulant or liquid latex. This factor is also the reason to the uneven both coagulant and latex distribution
on formers. The other possibilities to high bursting rate are inadequate dryness of coagulant before latex dip
and insufficient curing time after stripping. This means after heating process and product take-off from the
formers, the products need some time to cure and could not continuing with the logo printing process at the
very instance.
From the fishbone diagrams in Fig.2, 3 and 4, it could be understand that different defects also share
same root causes. Then the most common root causes were extracted from the fishbone diagrams and Pareto
chart is used to identify the most common occurrences or causes of the highest defect rates. Although there is
no absolute certainty of root causes, data about the process and its performance are analyzed to help stratify the
problem and potential root causes were recognized. The main cause had been verified through logical analysis
and based on expert-judgement of the workers. The process and the place where the cause was suspected to be
happening were checked through observation.
i) Referring to Defect 1: uneven shape after inflation and uneven wall thickness, some improvement methods
are proposed.
a. Better coagulant wetting
b. Modify chain track and angle
c. Modify dip tank
d. Frequent formers cleaning
e. Sufficient formers drying using fan
f. Reference (current machine design)
Next, two Criteria Matrix were set up so might conduct comparison among improvement methods based
on the selection criteria. Firstly concept screening matrix was constructed (refer to Table 2). Rough initial
improvement methods were evaluated and coarse comparative rating system was used.
Table 2: Concept Screening for Uneven shape after Inflation Improvement Methods
Improvement Methods
Selection Criteria A B C D E F
Ease of handling - 0 + 0 0 0
Ease of implementation + 0 + - + 0
Cost to operate 0 - - + + 0
Durability 0 + 0 - 0 0
Portability 0 0 + + + 0
Require little maintenance - 0 0 + + 0
Convenience - + + - - 0
Ergonomics 0 0 0 - - 0
Sum +‟s 1 2 4 3 4 0
Sum 0‟s 4 5 3 1 2 8
Sum –„s 3 1 1 4 2 0
Net Score -2 1 3 -1 2 0
Rank 6 3 1 5 2 4
Continue? No Combine Yes No Yes Combine
Additional resolution is needed to distinguish among opposing improvement methods, a finer scale is used
as listed in Table 3.
After some alternatives were eliminated, the team moved on to concept scoring (refer to Table 4). More
detailed analyses were conducted and quantitative evaluations of the remaining concepts were accomplished.
Table 4: Concept Scoring for Uneven shape after Inflation Improvement Methods
Improvement Methods
B&F C E
Selection Criteria Weight Ratin Weighted Ratin Weighted Ratin Weighted
g Score g Score g Score
Ease of handling 25% 3 0.75 4 1.0 3 0.75
Ease of 20% 3 0.6 3 0.6 3 0.6
implementation
Cost to operate 10% 2 0.2 2 0.2 4 0.4
Durability 10% 4 0.4 4 0.4 3 0.3
Portability 5% 2 0.1 5 0.25 4 0.2
Require little 15% 3 0.45 3 0.45 4 0.6
maintenance
Convenience 10% 4 0.4 4 0.4 2 0.2
Ergonomics 5% 3 0.15 3 0.15 2 0.1
Total 3.05 3.45 3.15
score
Rank 3 1 2
Continue? No Develop No
Lastly, with the guide gained from these selection matrixes, final decision could be made and then could go
for further step, which is implementing process improvement.
ii) Referring to Defect 3, high bursting rate; the similar method was used to choose the workable improvement
ideas. Some proposed improvement methods are:
a) Proper former cleaning
b) Sufficient drying using fan
c) Adequate dryness using oven
d) Low foaming wetting agent for coagulant
e) Longer curing time
f) Reference (current machine design)
For Defect 3, concept screening is as shown in Table 5 while scoring shown in Table 6.
Improvement Methods
Selection Criteria A B C D E F
Ease of handling 0 0 - - - 0
Ease of implementation - + + + 0 0
Cost to operate + + + 0 - 0
Durability 0 0 0 0 + 0
Portability + + - 0 - 0
Require little + + - - 0 0
maintenance
Convenience 0 - 0 - - 0
Ergonomics - - 0 0 0 0
Sum +‟s 3 4 2 1 1 0
Sum 0‟s 3 2 3 4 0 8
Sum –„s 2 2 3 3 4 0
Net Score 1 2 -1 -2 -3 0
Rank 2 1 4 5 6 3
Continue? Yes Yes No No Combine Combine
Improvement Methods
A B E&F
Selection Weight Ratin Weighte Ratin Weighte Ratin Weighte
Criteria g d Score g d Score g d Score
Ease of 25% 4 1.0 4 1.0 3 0.75
handling
Ease of 20% 4 0.8 5 1.0 3 0.6
implementation
Cost to operate 10% 3 0.3 2 0.2 3 0.3
Durability 10% 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3
Portability 5% 3 0.15 2 0.1 3 0.15
Require little 15% 4 0.6 4 0.6 3 0.45
maintenance
Convenience 10% 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3
Ergonomics 5% 3 0.15 3 0.15 3 0.15
Total 3.6 3.65 3.0
score
Rank 2 1 3
Continue? Develop Develop No
For both defects stated earlier, the improvement methods that score the highest rank are going to be
implemented. To make balloons with good quality, the improvement team got full support from the Managing
Director and approval to start the implementation. And, the company is will to scatter large sum of money to
invest for new equipment. The team starts planning for the implementation by making new ordering and
delivery procedure of the hydraulic system. Within couple of weeks, the hydraulic system was installed at the
machine, at the bottom of the latex dip tank. Based on the initial machine design, the formers are dipped into
the compounded liquid latex with eight colours per cycle. Usually one or two colours of products are needed
per order made by customers. The remaining balloons are kept as inventory. Besides, it is time consuming to
clean the tank in order to change other coloured liquid latex. With the new design, the dip tank can be taken
out if not used. This means, the different coloured liquid latex tank can be installed or remove in accordance
with the demand. Besides, the cleaning process and production can be run simultaneously. Production lead
time as well as quality problem can be reduced. The inventory can be reduced too at the same time can meet
customer requirement and diminish late delivery. To make products with even wall thickness from top to
bottom, the company has to invest in expensive equipment to spin the formers as they turned over. The task is
tuff as new design for the chain and requires chain speed adjustment. Niggling maintenance chore is needed
too. The company decided to use the idea proposed above which up-down hydraulic dip tank is. The chain
moves horizontally without changing the steep angle at the dip tank. Good quality products can be produced
and it is ease of handling in term of maintenance. Compliant with another defect which is high bursting rate,
the company employed other improvement methods to solve this problem. The method used is utilizing fans to
provide sufficient formers and coagulant drying as well as better deaeration. On the other hand, the method of
cleaning process is probed and additional former cleaning frequency is needed to make sure no impurity
particles are stickled on the formers. This method is desirable as it involves less cost to operate and requires
little maintenance. The company has a backup production method that is hand dipping so the new system
would not cause even more late delivery or greater defect rate if it did not work. After the improvement process
is done, the improvement team took measure on the rate of products defect. From the results obtained, the
defect rates have been reduced. In sigma language, the average defect rates develop from 2 sigma level to 4
sigma level.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this Six Sigma implementation in a case study company, the total rejects due to high defect rate have
been reduced after remedial actions are taken. The company invested in hydraulic system along with „up-
down‟ latex dip tank and this purchasing and installation of equipment was completed within one month. In
accordance with the declined defect rate, the capacity could also meet customer requirements well. As a result
of this, delivery on time as well as good quality products can be achieved. By using the new hydraulic system
on latex dip tank, high inventory in certain items can be reduced to minimal. This is because the manufacturer
only runs the production according to the purchase order. It brings success in applying it to the company
production line. This project brings challenges of launching, leading and preparing people for the Six Sigma
effort. Since the defect rates have been reduced after adopting the continuous process improvement method, the
company could look into investigation on other improvement efforts to increase its marginal profit.
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BIOGRAPHIES
M.C. Ng received the B.Eng. (Hons) Degree in Manufacturing Engineering with Management from Universiti
Sains Malaysia in 2008. Her research interest is on industrial engineering and manufacturing system.
Hasnida Ab-Samat received the B.Eng. (Hons) Degree in Manufacturing Engineering with Management from
Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2007 and has completed her M.Sc in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the
University Sains Malaysia, in 2010. Her research interest is on industrial engineering, manufacturing system
and maintenance management.
Shahrul Kamaruddin received the B.Eng.(Hons) degree from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland in
1996, the M.Sc. degree from University of Birmingham, U.K., in 1998, and the PhD from University of
Birmingham, in 2003.Currently an associate professor in the School Mechanical Engineering (under the
manufacturing engineering with management programme),Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has various past
experiences with manufacturing industries from heavy to electronics industries especially in the field of
industrial engineering, manufacturing processes and product design. He has more than 60 publications in
reputed international and national journals/conferences. His current research interests include simulation and
modeling of manufacturing systems, production planning and control, maintenance management and
application of artificial intelligence techniques in manufacturing.